Tiberius, elected to the office of tribune in 133 BCE, immediately begins pushing for a program of land reform, partly by invoking an old Licinian law that limits the amount of land that could be owned by a single individual.
Using the powers of Lex Hortensia, Tiberius establishes an agrarian commission to oversee the redistribution of land holdings from patricians to peasants.
The commission consists of himself, his father-in-law Appius, and his brother Gaius.
Their post allows them to survey the ager publicus, publicly owned land that Tiberius wants to distribute among veterans of the Punic War.
Another faction in the Senate opposes them, as does the city’s conservative Optimate faction.
Even liberal senators are agitated, fearing their own lands would be confiscated.
Senators arranged for other tribunes to oppose the reforms.
The Senate gives trivial funds to the commission.
However, late in 133 BCE, Attalus III of Pergamon having died and left his entire fortune (including the whole kingdom of Pergamon) to Rome, Tiberius sees his chance and immediately uses his tribunician powers to allocate the fortune to fund the new law.
This is a direct attack on Senatorial power, since it is traditionally responsible for the management of the treasury and for decisions regarding overseas affairs.
The opposition of the Senate to Gracchus increases.
His overruling of the tribunician veto is considered illegal, and his opponents are determined to prosecute him at the end of his one year term, since he is regarded as having violated the constitution and having used force against a tribune.
Tiberius now appeals to the people, and argues that a tribune who opposes the will of the people in favor of the rich is not a true tribune.
The senators are left with only one constitutional response – to threaten prosecution after Tiberius's term as a tribune ends.
To protect himself further, Tiberius Gracchus seeks reelection to the tribunate, promising to shorten the term of military service, abolish the exclusive right of senators to act as jurors, and admit allies to Roman citizenship.
As the voting proceeds, violence breaks out on both sides.
Tiberius' cousin, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, saying that Tiberius wishes to make himself king, leads the senators down towards Tiberius.
In the resulting confrontation, Tiberius is beaten to death with the chairs of the senators and thrown into the Tiber.
They also had gathered an ad hoc force, with several of them personally marching to the Forum.
Some three hundred of Tiberius’ followers, who were waiting outside the senate, perish with him, clubbed to death.
This is the first open bloodshed in Roman politics for nearly four centuries.
Plutarch says, "Tiberius' death in the senate was short and quick.
Although he was armed, it did not help him against the many senators of the day."
